Short Story 100

[disgruntled_owl]

The Idea:

Read 100 short stories between April 1, 2019 and July 31, 2019 to learn more about how to create compelling characters and plots in a limited number of words. 

Where It Came From:

In the book Memo from the Story Department, director and film professor David McKenna suggests a self education program for screenwriters, which includes an activity he calls “A Hundred Plays in a Hundred Days." He instructs writing students to read 100 screenplays over the course of three to four months and record a log line and a synopsis for each one. By doing this exercise, a novice screenwriter would read the types of work she hoped to master, and she would learn about what makes them work through such focused reading. He closes the description of this exercise with this alluring line:

“Like any workout routine, it only takes effect if you do it regularly. But if you do the work every day, you will transform yourself into something you have never been before, I promise.”

For my pleasure reading I primarily turn to novels instead of short stories, but pretty much everything I write (and finish, anyway) is a short story. I read a lot about different writing techniques through my Craft on my Commute project, but it can be challenging to practice them at the scale of a novel. And while I intend to keep writing fic, I’d like to produce more original work as well, and short stories are where I’m likely to have initial success. There are several structural and character building questions about short stories to which I’d like to find answers, such as 

• What kinds of plots work at the short story scale? How much time do they cover? How complex do they tend to be? What kind of subplots are involved?
• How much do characters grow and change in short stories? 

Hence, the adaptation: the Short Story 100. 

Ground Rules: 

1. I can read a maximum of two stories written by the same author. (If I want to read more, I can’t count them toward my total.)  
2. At least 25 stories I read must have been published in 2000 or later. (Otherwise I’d just be giving myself a crash course in ghost stories and Gothic horror fiction.) 

3. The stories I read must be at least 1,000 words long.

The Process: 

1. Read a story!

2. Record the story’s title, author, publication year, and an estimated word count.

3. Write a log line and synopsis for the story.

4. Record relevant notes about plot structure, character development, theme, or other topics. which may be in response to prompt questions. I'm finding some of these in the DIY MFA book.

5. Lather, rinse, repeat. 

What’s Next:

On April 1, I plan to get things started. I have a blank notebook ready, and a bunch of anthologies I can use to find my first set of stories. Help me get off the ground here, friends: do you have favorite short stories that I should read? 

 

Comments

[bironic]

Good luck! That is an ambitious project on top of GYWO. I admire your dedication to all the reading and writing skill building.

In fact I just last night was thinking of photocopying a story for you from the book I'm reading. And there are a lot of other faves out there; I'll get thinkin'.

[bironic]

Some to start with that are available in full online:

https://amercrustad.com/2014/03/01/how-to-become-a-robot-in-12-easy-steps/ by A. Merc Rustad (SF/F) - unusual format; neuroatypical narrator; brilliant conveyance of emotions

http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/tea-time/ by Rachel Swirsky (SF/F) - voices! time! Alice in Wonderland riff.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2009/10/05/victory-lap/amp by George Saunders - the voices, OMG.

http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/help-follow-sister-land-dead/ by Carmen Maria Machado (horror) - contemporary format. Alternate story by her: "Difficult at Parties," about assault recovery without talking about the assault

Either "Story of Your Life" http://www.kameli.net/~raimu/rnd/ted-chiang-story-of-your-life-2000.pdf (the story the movie Arrival was based on; fun with chronology) or "Tower of Babylon" (what if certain theological/metaphysical principles were real; then builds from there) by Ted Chiang (SF/F)

I will stop now. :)

[disgruntled_owl]

Wow! Look at all this great stuff (including the offline material you sent me)! I appreciate all these suggestions, including your notes about what might make them useful/interesting to read.